The Orator

The Orator

Year	c. 100 BCE
Medium	bronze
Dimensions	179 cm (70 in)
Location	National Archaeological Museum, Florence

Aule Metele, Latin: Aulus Metellus; also known as The Orator, Italian: L'Arringatore, is a bronze sculpture 179 cm high.^[1] It is a Romano-Etruscan work from the late second century or early first century BCE in the Roman style and depicts an Etruscan man, Aule Metele, wearing a short Roman toga and footwear. His right arm is raised to indicate that he is an orator addressing the public.^[2]

The retrograde inscription is in the Etruscan alphabet reads: : “auleśi meteliś ve[luś] vesial clenśi / cen flereś tece sanśl tenine / tu θineś χisvlicś” (“To (or from) Auli Meteli, the son of Vel and Vesi, Tenine (?) set up this statue as a votive offering to Sans, by deliberation of the people”).^[3][4]

Gallery

• 
  Detail of inscription
• 
  Detail of inscription
• 
  Detail of head
• 
  Detail of left hand

See also

• Capitoline Brutus

References

1. Larissa Bonfante (1986). Etruscan Life and Afterlife: A Handbook of Etruscan Studies. Wayne State University Press. pp. 139–. ISBN 0-8143-1813-4.
2. Horst Woldemar Janson; Anthony F. Janson (2004). History of Art: The Western Tradition. Prentice Hall Professional. pp. 190–. ISBN 978-0-13-182895-7.
3. TLE 651; CIE 4196
4. Koen Wylin (2000). Il verbo etrusco: ricerca morfosintattica delle forme usate in funzione verbale. L'ERMA di BRETSCHNEIDER. pp. 112–. ISBN 978-88-8265-084-1.